Item - 2013.PB24.8

The Toronto Preservation Board recommends to the Toronto and East York Community Council that:

1.         City Council refuse the request to demolish the heritage property at 17 Dundonald Street under Section 34 of the Ontario Heritage Act as proposed in the rezoning Application No. 12 154762 STE 27 OZ in accordance with plans and drawings prepared by RAW Design dated March 30, 2012 with final revisions dated April 26, 2013, date stamped received by the City Planning Division on May 8, 2013.

2.         If the owner appeals City Council’s decision to refuse the request to demolish the heritage property at 17 Dundonald Street under Section 34 of the Ontario Heritage Act, City Council authorize the City Solicitor and appropriate City staff to attend the Ontario Municipal Board hearing in opposition to the appeal.

This report recommends that City Council refuse the proposed demolition of the designated heritage property at 17 Dundonald Street (Commercial Travellers' Association of Canada Building).

The designated property is the subject of a rezoning application that proposes an 18 storey residential building with 115 dwelling units and 3 levels of below grade parking. The development will provide a secondary public entrance to the Wellesley Street subway station from the Dundonald Street frontage of the project. The applicant is proposing to dismantle the entire heritage building on the property, and to rebuild in a location closer to Dundonald Street and further west, the front (north) elevation, part of one structural bay of the east elevation and five structural bays of the west elevation. The integrity of this reconstruction in replicating the original is unclear. The applicant has advised that a limited amount of original material will be used.  The rebuilt structure will form the base or podium of the new tower.  Staff considers the extent of intervention proposed to the heritage resource by this redevelopment project to be excessive, diminishing the integrity and heritage value of the resource beyond what can reasonably be defined as conservation in order to accommodate the development proposed.